


He gives me the holiday I needed all the time

by EmbraceTheFlamingo



Series: Dedicated 'verse [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ember Island, Gay yearning, M/M, Mention of past relationships, zukaangweek2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25430566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmbraceTheFlamingo/pseuds/EmbraceTheFlamingo
Summary: “I can't believe you two. You're lucky you're the Avatar and got a free pass, that guy looked like he was going to murder you.”Having recovered a bit of his composure, Aang winks. “I'm charming like that.”Zukaang Week 2020 ● Day 3: Summer
Relationships: Aang/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Dedicated 'verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841986
Comments: 13
Kudos: 149
Collections: Zukaang Week 2020





	He gives me the holiday I needed all the time

**Author's Note:**

> this is a sequel to Dedicated, but can be read as a stand-alone. it's been sitting incomplete in my wip folders for years, but since it fits today's prompt perfectly i decided to finally finish and post it. perfectionism be damned.
> 
> here you have it, folks! zukaang week, day 3: summer.

Zuko has a theory.

It bugs him, irrelevant as it is, and he carefully tests it as he pretends to consider various fruits from the basket sitting in front of him; he already knows which one he'll pick, but it's a matter of principle. He has to be rigorous.

Sure enough, Aang's lips twitch in a small, almost secretive smile that nonetheless lights up his whole face as he regards Zuko's choice of breakfast.

There's something there, Zuko's sure of it now, so he asks, “What's with you and papayas?”

Aang laughs—of course he does. It _was_ a random question. “Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, it's just funny that you noticed.”

They're admiring the summer sun rise over the sea, sitting on the still-cold sand. It's a vacation of sorts, a few quiet days away from official business or world-threatening emergencies, and they've decided to spend them in Zuko's house in Ember Island.

As Zuko begins to remove the seeds and cut the fruit in carefully measured pieces, he acknowledges Aang's point with a shrug. “So, what is it?”

Aang traces lazy curves in the air with a few grapes. “It's an old joke between me and Katara. Before we started dating, I was kind of... well, twelve, awkward and inexperienced, so I went to Sokka for advice,” he explains.

“That must have gone swimmingly,” Zuko comments with a growing smirk of his own, remembering the time he'd stumbled into Sokka's tent when the guy was obviously waiting on Suki. Aang's flirting style doesn't strike Zuko as being that extra.

“He was all _'you have to play it cool'_ , you know? So I went to find Katara while she was shopping for groceries, mustered all my fake disinterest, and told her—” Aang pauses for dramatic effect “— _'sooooo... papaya?'_ ”  
At that point, Zuko has to put down his knife as he snorts loudly, because that macho voice from Aang is really something else.

“In retrospect, it was hilarious. She hadn't even realized that it was a bad attempt at wooing her until it popped up in a random conversation years later... From then on, papayas were officially ruined for us. You have no idea of the amount of times we were at some important meal with important people and there were papayas right in front of us and we just looked at each other and _knew_.”

“Wait. Wait,” Zuko interjects, struck by a sudden memory, “the anniversary of my coronation!”

Aang's laughter explodes at that; he's sprawled on the sand, holding his belly, and has to find his breath before wheezing, “Oh gods, yes! There were papayas everywhere, and that stuffy Earth Kingdom official started to eat one and he had that sour face—I'm so sorry we embarrassed you, but we couldn't stop—” Air is cut from his lungs again as he succumbs to another fit of laughter.

All of the diplomacy Zuko's had to employ that day to save his face and avoid conflict with the decidedly militaristic (and yes, stuffy) man, all because of fruit?

“I can't believe you two. You're lucky you're the Avatar and got a free pass, that guy looked like he was going to murder you.”

Having recovered a bit of his composure, Aang winks. “I'm charming like that.”

Zuko rolls his eyes, unimpressed. Luckily for him, Aang and Katara know how and when to apologize. That day Zuko also found out that, while Katara can't lie to save her life, Aang is quite skilled at bullshitting his way out of sticky situations and smoothing ruffled feathers.

Ridiculous as it might be, considering that they've been tight friends for years, Zuko sometimes still idealizes Aang a bit too much; this mischievous side of him that contrasts with the image of the Avatar as an enlightened, superior, infallible being took Zuko a while to get used to.

He studies Aang, who's lying on his back with eyes closed, soaking in the morning breeze, still with a huge grin on his face. His presence is much like his native element—it fills the space around him, lightens it, brushes away the tired and old. It's easy to forget that, in spite of his power and charisma, Aang's... well, not really ordinary, but not even that different from the average person.

He's also really, really gorgeous, glowing under the first timid sunrays peeking up from over the horizon.

Since that fateful day in Republic City, Zuko's been waiting for some kind of self-induced punishment for having the audacity to fall in love with Aang. That's how it goes for him, right? He can't have nice things without ruining them, or having them torn away from him, or both.

Instead, nothing happened. Life went on and the new facet of his feelings found its place inside him without much of a fuss.

There's still the issue of what he wants to do about it, if anything at all, but the situation is way calmer than he'd have expected.

He eats another piece of papaya, trying not to stare and being quite bad at it. “It's still weird to think that you and Katara broke up. I always thought you'd marry and have babies and stuff,” he confesses in a mild non-sequitur.

“Aw, Zuko, that's sweet! Actually, I kind of thought the same about you and Mai.”

“But we broke up a million times! It wasn't even close to the whole together-forever thing you and Katara had going on. Honestly, you were way too cute, it almost hurt to watch you.”

Zuko deviates the sandball to his face with the back of his hand as he adds, “You know it's true! Ask Sokka, he couldn't shut up about the oogies for almost a year.”

“Sokka was being contrary just because Katara's his sister, which is hypocritical since he's got plenty of ooginess of his own with Suki. And there's no such thing as being too happy, anyway.”

“There is, when you make everyone around you green with envy.”

At the time, Zuko had dreamed of a relationship like that. He'd struggled to keep his on-and-off thing with Mai afloat under the weight of their shared intimacy issues and inability to communicate properly; meanwhile, Aang and Katara made it look so effortless. Yes, they argued from time to time, but even at their worst they never tried to hurt each other—unlike Zuko and Mai, who let their pent-up emotions explode in spiteful fury and then tried to cover the damage with sloppy forgiveness.

It was a wonder that, after all the messiness of their final break-up, he and Mai somehow managed to learn how to be each other's friends.

Would Zuko be jealous of Katara now, if she and Aang were still together? Would he secretly harbor the desire to rip their relationship apart, to claim Aang as his and only his?

Sighing, Aang says, “Look, I appreciate the sentiment, but you make it sound like—I don't know, the ultimate union blessed from the spirits or something? We were cute, yes, young and in love, fantasizing about our future together, and then the years passed, we grew up and we discovered that we still felt like family, but not in the married sense.”

“That's... anticlimactic.”

“Kind of,” Aang agrees.

Yet, Zuko understands. Outgrowing someone can be as simple and terrifying as slowly drifting away, deorbiting what once was the center of your universe; in most cases, there are no clear crossroads that indicate the point where paths start to diverge. Somehow, somewhere, you change, and inertia can only do so much as relationship glue.

“We were so young,” Zuko muses. When they're alone like this, he forgets that he's the Fire Lord, that he's been since he was sixteen.

Aang pulls himself up to sit. He can't stay still for more than a few minutes, unless he's meditating. “We're not kids anymore, indeed.”

There's something in his tone, an awakened restlessness, that gives Zuko pause.

He turns to face Aang, and as their eyes meet, the intense focus of grey eyes holding Zuko's gaze is unsettling... and magnetic. If he didn't know better he'd almost see a challenge there, a bold pull.

Then, Aang leans in and deliberately steals a piece of papaya from Zuko's hand and pops it into his own mouth. The gesture feels way too intimate, and Zuko's too aware of those lips now—Aang's licking them. His fingers too.

If Zuko still had any doubts on Aang's fondness for papayas, he certainly doesn't now.

He blames his suddenly parched mouth on the sun. Nevermind that it's still early morning and the soft breeze is this side of chilly.

“So, Zuko,” Aang says casually, as if he hasn't gotten so close that Zuko can smell his skin; he turns his head to whisper in Zuko's ear, “Papayas?”

The words sound familiar to Zuko's AWOL brain, and they do something with the smirk, the smugness, the oddness, the closeness—wait, did he just say _papayas?_

Zuko wants to laugh it off, make an answering joke.

“What?” he blurts out instead, wide-eyed.

Aang snorts in the crook of Zuko's neck, tickling him with his breath, and it's not helping Zuko feel less unbalanced. At all.

“Your face, Zuko! So scandalized!”

Perfect. Zuko wants to scream. _You sound like you're coming onto me and I'm self-combusting because my poor heart can't take it, thank you very much!_ His blush's so sharp it can probably be seen even under the scar.

Aang chuckles and scuttles back; though Zuko's personal space has been restored, his wits are nowhere to be found. He doesn't know what to do with Aang's mood. Does Aang know what he's doing? He doesn't usually act on impulse, but then what the fuck is this supposed to be?

What if Aang is flirting with him? Really, actually flirting with him?

Oh gods. This is definitely not happening. All that Zuko's mouth manages to produce is: “You could at least use a pick-up line that's not recycled.”

“Ah. Fair point. But I'm shy, you see, and it's hard to come up with something on the spot, so I think you'll be stuck with papayas for now.”

“That's the least convincing lie I've ever heard in my entire life.”

Aang huffs a laugh. They're not so close that Zuko can feel it on his skin, yet the sound sparks a shiver that travels to uncharted parts of him, of them, tracing tingles down to fingertips and most hidden chambers of Zuko's mind.

It sort of aches, sort of pleases, sort of drives Zuko to cross that unspoken line between them by doing things he's not sure he's brave enough to. Not yet.

Zuko extends his arm and tentatively reaches for the fruit bowl. Without taking his eyes off Aang's—he doesn't know what will happen if they break the contact, but it's not right, it's not what it's supposed to happen—, he picks up one of the pieces of papaya and puts it to Aang's lips.

His gaze drops and he watches, transfixed, as Aang parts them to accept the juicy prize. “Happy?” Zuko jokes weakly, barely able to cope with whatever the fuck he's doing.

Aang hums, satisfied, finally closing his eyes and flopping back on the sand.

“Delicious.”

**Author's Note:**

> yes, i'm a merciless tease. also, we all love disaster gay zuko.  
> zuko's missed many important moments with the gaang before his redemption and i love the idea of him discovering about them randomly when they're older. the Papaya Incident is among them.


End file.
